Idaho’s Best Time of Year is Coming Soon

There are a few moments in life when the clock seems to stand still.  Most of our days rush by, as if in a competitive race to a mysterious end.  But for a few days in late September and early October, there are moments where the passing summer and oncoming fall collide and struggle for dominance.  Summer is like the Dylan Thomas poem, raging against the dying of the light.  Autumn is the calm before the fierceness of winter—a time to take stock.

I loved the changing of seasons as a boy.  In summer, we ran, played, and went swimming in a cool northern lake.  In winter, we skated and raced downhill on sleds.  The late columnist Jim Bishop once called sledding a metaphor for life.  You trudge up a steep hill, and the reward is a few seconds of joy coming down.

Not Every Season is Equal

Spring was fourth on my list.  Yes, it heralded another summer of play, but it was often rainy, and the fields we roamed were caked in mud.

But autumn…

To be Young in Autumn and Looking Ahead to Many More Years

The days were often warm and the sky clear.  At night, it was cold and crisp, and we could see the stars and our breath in the air. The air feels as if it’s easier to inhale in the fall.

My birthday is in early October, and as a boy, I looked forward to the celebration and the changing colors of the leaves.  Halloween would follow three weeks later.  While some years there was already snow on the ground, it was mostly a night with a chill in the air.  You could recognize masked friends by their coats.

You Can't Equal Mother Nature as an Artist

Idaho offers quite the canvas in autumn.  My favorite drive begins in Blaine County and later ends in Stanley.  You pass fields where Gary Cooper and Ernest Hemingway hunted, and in another metaphor from their brief lives, you know the most beautiful country you’ve ever seen will soon be barren, cold, and covered in snow.